Canvassing the Internet: Platonic Admiration

[tealin]

I know I was behind the door when hormones were handed out, but surely I am not the only one who finds it possible to respect and admire someone – or even just like a fictional character – without being sexually attracted to them. In high school the response to a statement of such admiration was usually full of conspiratorial innuendo, accompanied by a virtual 'wink wink nudge nudge.' I thought that when I joined the grownup world that mindset had been left behind, but I've encountered it a few times recently and it's got me wondering. Anyone out there know what I'm talking about? Opinions? Insights? Observations? Advice, even?

Comments

[jesskat.livejournal.com]

"I thought that when I joined the grownup world that mindset had been left behind"

Don't believe the rumors. It seems to me that sometimes grown-ups are actually a lot worse in the innuendo department. Everything's about sex, and if it isn't, we'll damn well make it so. Apparently the penguins in Happy Feet are "obviously" homosexual because they like dancing and singing, according to one reporter. "We know what's going on here," he says, "even if the kids don't." We do? Apparently I didn't get that memo. Maybe because my mind isn't occupied with penguin sex all the time.

I have a lot of favorite characters in literature and films that I am not the least bit attracted to sexually but because I admire their intellect or quirky traits. Many people seem, for some reason, unable to separate the actor and the character from one another. I can like Jack Sparrow as a character, but I lust neither after him or Johnny Depp. I can like Vetinari as a character, but have no dirty thoughts about him or any actors who've portrayed him in the flesh. Maybe this kind of thinking is seen as childish by some people. Perhaps they think it's not normal to like a fictional character, it's just something someone made up. You need an excuse, like a sexy actor to portray them on screen, or telling yourself it's the character traits that you're looking for in an ideal mate. So you're not fixated on this fictional character based on things like, y'know, emotions and relatability, inside you're really just a healthy adult looking for reasons to bone someone.